Jacque
Masculine · “one who follows at the heel”
Jacque is given to both — 2,425 boys and 4,888 girls since 1880. See Jacque as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Jacque is Jacques with the silent s taken off, and in Louisiana that is not a respelling so much as a local convention. French names have been in continuous American use there for three hundred years, spelled by families rather than by academies, and the s at the end of Jacques is silent in French anyway.
How old is the name Jacque?
Jacque first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Jacque alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 1,700 people named Jacque are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jacque most popular?
Jacque peaked in 1971, reaching #1091 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 6,588 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yaakov to Jacque
The story of Jacque
Louisiana French is a living tradition rather than a historical curiosity, and it has kept a stock of French given names in American use that would otherwise have disappeared: Jacque, Aimee, Andre, Emile, Odette. The spellings drift because they are transmitted within families rather than through French schooling, and dropping a silent letter is the most ordinary drift there is. Jacque is the result, and its regional concentration in the record is the clearest evidence of where it comes from.
Meaningscholars disagree
one who follows at the heel
Jacques is the French form of Jacob, from Hebrew Yaakov, by way of Latin Iacobus and its late form Iacomus — which is where the m in James comes from. The traditional reading takes the name from the word for a heel, on the strength of the Genesis story about the twins; an alternative reads it as a shortened sentence name about God protecting. Neither has won and the chain of forms is documented regardless.
How the name formed
- Yaakov
- Iacomus
- Jacques
- Jacque
Related forms: Jacques · Jaime · Giacomo
Pronouncing Jacque
ZHAHK
ZHAHK, one syllable, in French and in Louisiana — the j is soft and the final consonant hard. American readers outside that tradition often say JAK-wee or JAK, treating the name as English. The one-syllable French reading is the correct one and the least likely to be guessed.
Nicknames for Jacque
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 197156 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1091reached in 1971
- Change vs 2022
- −9.1%10 in 2025, from 11
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jacque in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jacques in French — same name
- Jaime in Spanish — related form
- Giacomo in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Louisiana.
Jacques among us
people named Jacque are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Jacque
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Girard test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jacque's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Girard climbed just as high around 1905, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Girard's path sketches the road Jacque is walking now.
Jacque sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Jacque beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jacque in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a documented Louisiana French tradition behind it rather than being a modern respelling.
- One syllable, which fits any surname without crowding.
- The name behind it is one of the most widely used in Europe and needs no translation there.
- Outside Louisiana it is read as English and mispronounced almost every time.
- Jacques is the standard French spelling and this will be corrected toward it.
- It goes to girls as well in American records, so on a form it settles less than it appears to.
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What they receive
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Jacque
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jacques are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Jacque are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jacque in 2025?
- Jacque ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jacque?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Jacque — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jacque with classmates?
- Jacque will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jacque
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jacque? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jacque and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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